Murder One Too Many

Rachel Christie Mystery #5

by Sabena Stone

A man suffering from a rare disease is accused of killing his wife and killing himself. Private Investigator Rachel Christie knows it wasn't suicide. She was in a room no more than fifty feet away and heard no shot. The gun had no silencer. Yet, she heard the young woman scream.

As she delves into the murder/suicide, she unearths the vile and contemptible side of humanity. Greed abounds and she questions her own humanity as those around her are tortured and murdered. She commits acts that are outside the limits she has set for herself.

Would someone kill four people for three million dollars? Rachel finds that people would maim and kill for less.

Genres: Mystery, Amazon

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 7, 2012

Reviews

[Gloria Piper]

I wanted to give this 4 1/2 stars, but the rating must settle at 4. Sometimes a new character is brought in without an introduction until later, which caused this reader to pause and wonder what I had missed. During the initial death scene, I felt too much attention was paid to sexual indulgences which tended to dismiss the seriousness of the tragedy.

Feisty Rachel (Ray) Christie has a history of lovers--some lost, some lingering with hope in their hearts while she has committed to Ron, a policeman who wants her out of the private investigation business. But Christie never can leave a puzzle unsolved, and what greater puzzle than a murder mystery? It seems obvious to the police, given the glaring evidence, that Larry Bains was driven by Huntington’s Disease to murder his wife and kill himself. Or did he? Rachel sees the subtle incongruities that others miss. It’s her special talent that leads her to solve murders or nearly get murdered, herself.

Backed by solid reasoning, Sabena Stone expertly carries the reader through the maze of evidence that leads and misleads. Tension builds with more murders, threats against Christie, and a deadline to prevent another death.

The novel has polish, but not to as high a sheen as possible. Some errors exist, and it just misses 5 stars. Don’t let that deter you. The story is told in first person by Christie. Descriptions are well done, so they don’t appear tacked on. The writing is smooth, the tone is witty, the characters have depth, and the plot is clever. An enjoyable read.

[J.C. Wing]

Murder One Too Many is the fifth installment of the Rachel Christie mystery series written by author Sabena Stone. I am personally a huge fan of this genre so was very happy to jump into this one. I was a bit nervous that I would not be able to follow along in the story line having not read the four books that preceded this one, but that worry was completely unfounded and I enjoyed this clever tale very much.

There are many characters in this novel, but definitely not too many to keep track of and none of them were distracting to the plot. Rachel, the main character, is wonderfully complex, trying to overcome demons of her past and obviously effected by the victims in this story. She’s refreshingly human. She gets kicked around, she gets angry and emotional. She’s also very bright, highly likable and interesting. Stone writes a tight narrative and, while some mysteries are hard to knit into a believable fabric, this author succeeds quite well. I was engaged throughout the novel and, in fact, bought the four previous books in the series because Stone made me want to learn about her cast of characters from the beginning.

Because this is a mystery I will not divulge any details of the plot but I will say that there are many murder mysteries to choose from out there. This is one of the better ones and I highly recommend giving it a read.

[Christy]

I thought this book was awful, mostly because the main character was unlikable in every way. She was pretentious, rude, conceited and disrespectful. I think the attempt was to make her a hard core powerful female character, but all that came across were some seriously negative qualities.

Also, this is a series with Ray Christie as the main character. I believe that each book in a series should stand on its own (you shouldn't have to read everything preceding to follow along). That was not the case with this book. Often characters would enter in with no explanation of who they are or how they're related to the characters/story. I thought Cody was a quiet, slow-witted high school student. Turns out he's her business partner studying criminology at the local college. I thought Skyler was a drug dealer. Turns out he's an assistant sheriff. Her boyfriend's mom's name is Sunbeam (or Sunlight or Sundance or something). No mention of whether she's Native American, a flower child, or if it's a nickname. This happened throughout the whole book and made it difficult to follow.

I won't be reading any more books in this series. When the main character is rude to her colleagues, blows off her boyfriend every chance she gets, and openly hates all law enforcement, I find it hard to pull for her.

[Judie]

The romantic getaway weekend at a resort planned by Private Investigator Rachel (Ray) Christie and her beau Police Officer Ron Hartwell, was interrupted by a scream. Looking for the source, they met Kate Vance who had just discovered her uncle’s body with a bullet hole in his head. Kate hired Ray to try to find out if her uncle had committed suicide or is he had been murdered. It turned out that her aunt had been killed at home a day or so earlier. The police decided it was a murder/suicide brought about by her uncle’s side effects of Parkinson’s Disease. Kate was said their estate was worth more than $20 million and other relatives were trying to get the couple’s money. Kate offered Ray $100,000 to prove her uncle was innocent.
Ray’s investigation involves following many paths looking for clues. She decides he was murdered and is determined to find the killer. There are several possibilities as well as some more murders and attempts on her life. Other crimes are also involved advancing in the plot.
This is the fifth book in a series. While it can be read on its own, there are some references to previous books. They can basically be ignored, especially when they mention injuries she has suffered, but it is unsettling to have characters introduced who obviously had major roles but we aren’t told enough about what those roles were to compel her to react to them the way she does.
Ron gets very upset when Ray cannot be with him because she is working on her case. As a policeman, he should be more understanding and less a whining, spoiled jerk. That controlling tendency set off red flags for me but was treated as a relatively normal part of her attempts to define their relationship. He didn’t look at it the same way.
Sabena Stone has a tendency to stereotype characters. She describes an Asian Indian doctor’s attitude towards her as “that of an upper caste Indian toward an untouchable. I got the distinct impression I was nothing but an ant to him, an ant that he could squash if he wished, and he was someone I should revere.” Many people have complained that their doctors act like they are God but don’t have their cultural background described as part of the reason. She also seems to have an issue with fat people.
I don’t understand what she meant by “It was pretty in a rural sort of way” or how a sentence about the color of the leaves fits into a sort paragraph about the dangerous condition of a road.
Ray does some very basic work, e.g., determining the trajectory of the bullet to locate it. I cannot imagine a police department not doing that as a matter of routine. The Police Department promises to withhold information about one death for forty-eight hours yet she turns on the television news that night to see if they run a story about it.
A psychiatrist has sessions with patients in public locations so it would be more comfortable for them. Since many sessions can become emotional, a public setting does not seem conducive to treatment.
While the plot moved well, the side issues spoiled my enjoyment of the book.

[Nancy Hogue]

Rachel Christie is the private investigator hired while on a weekend vacation with her on/off again love interest. She attempts to balance his feelings and her obligation to the new client in solving the murder of her uncle, a victim of Huntington's disease. It was emotional to learn of the illness' effect on the victim and his family. The case becomes complicated with several deaths and her client's erratic behavior.

This is the fifth book in the series and Miss Christie has grown in her relationships and crime-solving abilities which brings her to life. I found all the characters in her book to be multi-dimensional and interesting, especially Deputy Shawn Skyler and Ron's mother Sunbeam, an aging hippie. I highly recommend this book if you like a good mystery.

[Liberum Latine]

Yawn. Way too much cop-procedural set up and cliche to make it interesting. And it's repetitive. Yes, she's got a camera pen. She doesn't need to tell us it's a camera men every time she uses her camera pen. See how annoying that is?

[Cindy B.]

First for this author, thoroughly enjoyed it.

[bex]

2.5* The story is okay but the writing is just too sloppy. The author couldn't even keep one character's name straight and switched back and forth a few times.

[Elizabeth]

My first Rachel Christie Mystery

This book was very well written and hard to put down! I easily finished it in day and look forward to more in this series.

[Patricia Mccammon]

Upsetting

The life of a PI can be troublesome both personal and professional. Trying to keep a balance Rachel tries to right wrongs without crossing the line